Even before the midweek exit from the Johnstone's Paint Trophy at Leyton Orient had added to the pressure to keep play-off hopes on track, Yeovil were already faced with a list of significant challenges today at Sheffield United. We hadn't done so well against the top sides in the League, and our opponents had panned us in the corresponding fixture a year ago plus they have been top-sixing all season. Then add in the obvious matters of size and contrasting squad budgets, not forgetting that the (albeit short) history of Blades v. Glovers was until today defined entirely by cuts of steel and no punch - so much so, that Yeovil had not scored even a single goal against their illustrious Yorkshire opponents.

As it turned out, history counted for nothing apart that is from that significant Yeovil tradition of upsetting the odds, as they bounced back from Tuesday night's disappointment with a much improved team performance to win 2-0 at Bramall Lane.

I had gone to Orient and what was missing in our game that night the team had found again for this match. It's guesswork how much United were undone by having an off-day, and how much it was down to Yeovil not allowing them to play, but what I do know is that this was a very good cohesive and gutsy Yeovil performance. Yeovil carved out the better chances and were comfortable on the ball in all positions, and were organised well all over the pitch with superb support work and commitment to the cause.

I thought Richard Hinds did well in midweek, but Dan Burn and Byron Webster were nothing short of brilliant as a central pairing at the back - whether mopping up, winning the aerial battles, putting bodies on the line, even linking the play on occasion or whatever - all through the match they were impressive, in an impressive whole back-line.

Gavin Williams and Dominic Blizzard made way for rookies Kevin Dawson and Matt Dolan which put a heavy weight-load on the shoulders of two inexperienced youngsters making their first league starts; responsibility that might reasonably have been expected to be a step too far. What happened though was the opposite, as both fledglings rose magnificently to the occasion to give telling disciplined and extremely hard-working contributions. In the context of the significance of this match compared to their raw status, what they gave to the team was remarkable and as such they enhanced the midfield talents of Ed Upson and Sam Foley. Both have superb engines, as indeed do James Hayter and Paddy Madden up front, who both played very well. As did the whole team without exception. Goal-machine Madden scored the first just after half-time with a good finish low into the corner of the net, and while his second was a soft goal for the opposition to concede it typified his never-give-up attitude, as he harried United's keeper George Long into presenting him with an easy tap-in.

Bramall Lane was fairly subdued most of the match which was in contrast to its reputation for being an intimidating fortress. Four-and-a-half thousand more attended the game compared to last year's match boosting the crowd to over twenty thousand, all obviously compelled to see the mighty Glovers .. er, I mean courted by the match being given cheap-ticket status. The home team only had a hold of the game for a period between the Yeovil goals - apart from that phase the Blades were void of the fluency and thrust you would expect from a team holding a high League position for so long. The Glovers support carried on from the Tuesday party mood but this time the party was not pooped which made it a top-ranking away day for those that went. Certainly good to see a few old faces, and indeed some younger ones such as Capital GloversWill and Bill whom it was a pleasure to meet.

A superb performance and result against top-six opposition that has come at an intriguing time to fuel our hopes of getting to a dizzy height in the table. It may just be that as one Wembley dream is gone, another one for even better things is rapidly becoming more tangible. Certainly it will if we can keep up this League form and come out of January with a strong squad. Hopes for the tinpot that seemed so realistic less than a week ago, now may be replaced by stronger ambition for the real prize of getting to and succeeding in the play-offs.

Who knows how it will turn out, but for sure near the play-offs and rising is an exciting place to be, especially when days like today are part of the journey to what will surely be a great improvement on recent seasons, wherever we end up.

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